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It’s easy to see why destination weddings are popular. According to Brides Magazine, the average cost of a wedding in the UK for 2015 was £24,000. This is insane. I mean look at that figure again: twenty-four thousand pounds. By comparison, the average UK salary is only £26,500. Unless people are handing out iPhones as wedding favours, where exactly is that money going? Okay, okay, of course, we’re being unfair. There’s nothing wrong with having a £24,000 wedding day. There’s nothing wrong with spending £200,000 if you can afford to.

The worst thing that any bride or groom can do is subscribe to what everyone thinks they should do. It’s dangerous to talk about the average price of this or the average price of that because to the couple getting married, their wedding isn’t average.

The lovely people at Dejoria have been busy; they wanted to find out if religious ceremonies are still popular with couples getting married.

For us, it's an interesting question. The LGBT community is often excluded by religious institutions. UK law, in fact, protects religious groups from having to perform or endorse same-sex marriage.For the vast majority of gay people there is no
choice; it’s a civil marriage ceremony or nothing. But
it’s interesting to see that straight couples are now less inclined to choose a
religious ceremony. This might be for a number of reasons: a lack of or change
in religious belief, a small budget, a want of a different venue or the lure of
the all-inclusive wedding package.

We live in a different world now, a different society, and in the UK at least, the
grip of the Church is weakening in many of the arenas it once dominated.

Or
perhaps we should be surprised that modern couples are still choosing religious
ceremonies. One could argue that religious…

Same-sex marriage is now legal in the Republic of
Ireland, and it’s fair to say that we’ve been pretty excited about it. It’s got us thinking about Irish wedding traditions, and here are some of our favourites.

The Claddagh Ring

The Claddagh Ring has been popular in Ireland since
the 17th century. Designed to symbolise the three qualities of love,
friendship and loyalty, the ring is two hands clasping a heart below a crown. It's most commonly given as an engagement or wedding ring.

Traditionally, a
mother will give the ring to her daughter or a grandmother to a granddaughter. If the idea of the ring doesn’t appeal to you, then you
could always take the design and use it on your wedding stationary. Horseshoes

Horseshoes have long been associated with good
luck. You’ve probably seen them featured in other weddings, too. The horseshoes
used today are most likely to be plastic, but for real authenticity use a real one.

However, if the thought of carrying around an iron shoe doesn’t appea…

Couples who married abroad will now see that
marriage recognised in Ireland. The effect of this was immediate.

Couples can now choose to convert their civil
partnership to marriage, but there is no obligation to do so. Details of how to
convert a civil partnership are expected to become available soon.

Couples can now register their intent to marry with
a registrar. Once the notice period has passed then the first ceremonies can
start taking place.Ireland has come a long way since the referendum
was first announced back in 2014. It’s come a long way full-stop. Homosexuality was only decriminalised in 1993, and divorce was only legalised in 1997. No
small feat for a country with such deep historical connections to the Catholic
Church (and we know how forward thinking the Vatican is). It’s …

There’s nothing like a bit of escapism at this time
of the year, is there? The weather is poor; the Christmas trees are already up
(it’s November, people!) and everyone is sniffing, sneezing and spreading all manner of germs onto to the rest of us. Can't we just pretend for five minutes that we're off someone more exciting, more exotic than the twenty-five minute commute to the office. Wouldn't it be fabulous to plan a wedding without first having to consider the minutiae of a "wedding budget" spreadsheet the length of Belgium. We can't offer you much, but we do, at least, have this. Courtesy of the lovely people at beachhousetci.com,
we can see exactly where the rich and famous are choosing to get hitched. Luxury for some of us might be using triple quilted toilet paper or shopping at Waitrose, but for some people luxury can mean getting married in some of the most beautiful places on earth.

A couple who were married in England are making a legal
challenge at Belfast's High Court today, becausetheir same-sex marriage is not recogised in
Northern Ireland.Northern Ireland remains the only country in the United Kingdom with a gay marriage ban. The highest legal recognition a gay couple can have there is as civil partners. The couple behind the challenge believe the law not only downgrades their marriage, it devalues it.

Following
traditional trends, marriage ceremonies were most popular during the summer
months. Between
December 2014 and June 30th 2015, 7,732 couples converted their
civil partnership to marriage. December was the most popular month for doing
this, but since then there has been a decline (except for in May). The ONS also notes that civil
partnerships are on the decline. This is particularly noticeable when compared
to the figures for the previous year. In December 2014 there were only 58 civil
partnersh…

Popular Posts

It might be hard to imagine, but spring isn’t too far away. For couples planning nuptials over the next few months, it’s time to start thinking about the added touches that will really make your wedding pop.

We think you’ll agree that a little bit of colour goes a long way, and that’s why we’re smitten with Pantone colour of the year inspired confetti. Use the pick-and-mix tool on the Shropshire Petals website to get inspired and get colourful with your wedding day confetti.

Confetti inspired by Pantone's colour of the year

Every year, Pantone releases its colour of the year and 2017’s is Greenery. Perfect for spring, green is a versatile colour that will combine wonderfully with a variety of other colours, making spring 2017 an exciting time to get married. After choosing your colour scheme it can be difficult to match every little detail exactly, so the perfect solution is to use different tones of the same colour or several colours to compliment your main theme. Shropshire Peta…

Hen, stag and hag parties are big business. They can be big headaches, too. Once you’ve chosen what you want to do, picked who to invite, synchronised availability, made the booking, collected the money, sorted the transport and everything else there’s still the chance that what you’ve booked is actually a bit – well – shit. There’s so much pressure now on couples and their entourage to get everything right. Expectations are big, and so are budgets (even when the attendees might prefer it if they weren’t), but at the heart of it, hen, stag and hag dos have always been about giving the person getting married a good send off. That’s why we were intrigued when we heard about the launch of THATMuse (Treasure Hunt At The Museum). Here’s what they have to say: "Hen and Stag nights may fill some people with abject dread, envisioning a night of clichéd debauchery and bad decisions. For those who would rather marvel over the chiselled physique of a Grecian torso than carousing the city str…

The UK boasts a fantastic Pride scene and 2017 will be no different. Each month we’ll be listing upcoming local and national Pride events to keep you entertained and empowered across the summer.

Getting married? Pride is a fab excuse for a hen, stag or hag do. Exeter Pride 201713 May 2017In its ninth year, this is Devon’s largest pride event. Daytime events will be family-friendly and include live music, a parade, market stalls, film showings and panel debates. Daytime events are free to attend, and they’ll be plenty of activities for young adults and children, too. Lancaster Pride 201720 May 2017 There’s not much information around about Lancaster Pride at the moment. Keep checking the website for information as it appears. Birmingham Gay Pride 201727th & 28th May 2017Birmingham Pride is one of the biggest LGBT events in the UK, offering some superb musical talent right across the bank holiday weekend that includes: Dua Lipa, Basement Jaxx, Gabrielle, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Boney…

This is the new blog for Pink Wedding Days. We blog about civil partnerships and gay marriage in the UK.
Our main site is Pink Wedding Days.co.uk and we've been helping gay and lesbian couples plan their big day since 2005. Covering the UK, our directory of pink friendly wedding venues and services is growing all the time, and we'd love to help you, too.
See more at: www.pinkweddingdays.co.uk
or call us: 0121 277 4710